"If you want some accessible but informative insight into football then I suggest you couldn't do better than the Political Economy of Football website, which is not only intelligible but comes with the added bonus of being written by Addicks fan Wyn Grant."Ben Hayes - Charlton Athletic programme

Financial Results

Liverpool FC have reported a profit for the first time in seven years. The margin of pre-tax profit for the year ending May 2014 is only £0.9m, but it has a broader significance. It suggests that a club can challenge for a top four spot while still operating on at least a break even basis.

It is really increased revenues that have helped the club. They were up 19 per cent at £255.6m. Between 2009 and today, they have increased from around £170m to over £250m.

QPR have reported substantially reduced losses for the last financial year. They are down to £9.8m in contrast to a massive £65.4m in the year ending May 2013. Expenditure is down £22m, largely due to lower player costs. Shareholders have also written off £60m in loans.

The club has faced difficulties over compliance with financial fair play rules, but these results should help their position.

I have been looking at the accounts for a tier two Conference club. The shareholders are supporters and the shares are quite widely dispersed, although there are five or so individuals who have larger holdings.

The club reported profits of £52,000 on a turnover of £267,000 in the year ending 30 June. This compared with £21,000 in the previous twelve months.

In many ways Charlton Athletic are typical of many Championship football clubs whose financial problems for at least five years could be solved by just one year in the Premier League. In the meantime, the club continues to make substantial losses of over £7m a year. It is difficult to see how this can be sustained, given that owner Roland Duchatelet thinks that clubs should move to a break even position.

West Bromwich Albion could be for sale to the right buyer. The club is believed to have sounded out contacts in the City after the announcement of the new £5 billion Premier League television deal. Jeremy Peace is the dominant shareholder at The Hawthorns and has been in charge for 13 years.

The club is in good financial health and is currently the top club in the West Midlands in terms of its position in the table. Pre-tax profits of £14.7m have been reported in the year ending June 2014 on sales of £86.8m.

Sao Paolo's Corinthians have seen a surplus of €330,000 in the preceding year turn into a deficit of €29.9m in the 2014 financial year. The main factors appear to have been stadium construction costs and a big tax bill.

It is not that often that a football club records a profit, and even remarkable when they achieve in four of the last five years. But that is what Dundee United have done with a profit of £1.218m in the year to June 2014. These figures do not take into account millions made in the transfer market over the summer.

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"A fine independent web page that follows business developments in football can be found at Charlton fan Wyn Grant's regularly updated Political Economy of Football,.."Ian Plenderleith - When Saturday Comes magazine